


One night, two nights....

by CanonicallySoulmates



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Crying Jack, Family Feels, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, M/M, Sam and Dean Winchester are Jack Kline's Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-27 04:43:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15016919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanonicallySoulmates/pseuds/CanonicallySoulmates
Summary: "It's so easy to forget he's a baby" Sam whispered, fingers slowly running through Jack’s hair; it is. It is easy to forget he's technically a baby, he has nightmares, and he's afraid of thunderstorms and it turns out his human side can get the better of him and makes him painfully sick.





	One night, two nights....

It was supposed to be a onetime thing. The kid had woken up crying from a nightmare one night and Sam had insisted he sleep with them in their bed.

 

Dean's a strong man but he'd have to lack a soul to say no to his baby brother when he gives him those puppy dog eyes, Jack clutched in his arms, tears still running down the kids face.

 

One night. That's all he agreed to, one night of the kid sleeping in their bed.

 

But then a series of thunderstorms went through the area and he was reminded that for all the maturity Jack showed for his age, he's still a little kid. A scared of thunderstorms little kid. Which is why he wakes up in the middle of the night to a soft “Sam? Dean?”. There, in the doorway with the hallway light casting a shadow over him, hands playing with the bottom of his too-big-for-him pajama top, Jack looks every bit the one-year old he is; before Dean can tell the kid to head back to bed, Sam’s lifting up the bedsheets with a quiet "come here, kiddo".

Dean already knows he’s going to wake up with an aching back, their bed is barely big enough to fit him and Sam, but as the storm picks up and he sees Jack flinch as he dives under the covers into Sam’s arms he can’t find it in him to be mad.

 

Two nights. That's where he draws the line.

 

Then Jack gets sick for the first time.

 

This time it’s a blood curling scream that wakes him up, and has Sam and him racing towards Jack’s bedroom, guns in their hands ready to kill whatever or whoever is trying to get to the kid, only to find him alone curled up in a ball sobbing and screaming his lungs out. He’s red in the face, and has soaked through his pajamas with sweat; it shouldn’t be that surprising, the kids half human after all, still it comes as a shock when Sam touches the kids’ forehead and finds him burning up with a fever.

Dean won’t pretend it doesn’t break his heart to see the kid curled up, crying in pain, knowing all he could really do to fix it is some cold towels and some medicine. Dean can kill the monsters in the dark, he can handle the bad guys, human and non-human alike but he can’t fight or kill the common cold. No matter how badly he wishes he could in that moment.  

Dean knows what Sam is going to say, he’ll look at him with those puppy eyes and say Jack’s staying in their room for the night. Except when Sam turns to look at him, puppy eyes in place, he says he’s spending the night in Jack’s room, that he didn’t want to leave the kid alone.  Maybe Dean didn’t know what Sam was going to say after all, because that is not what he expected to come out of his brother’s mouth. The not wanting to leave the kid alone part was expected, hell Dean doesn’t want to leave the kid alone either, but after the nightmares and the thunderstorms he’d think Sam would just carry the kid over to their room and tell Dean that if he didn’t like it he could sleep somewhere else.

If Sam notices Dean leave the room he doesn’t show it; Dean has no plans to leave the kid alone in his condition, and no plans to leave Sam to deal with it alone, him and his brother are partners and that includes taking care of the young Nephilim under their roof. But before he can move Sam and Jack into his and Sam’s bedroom he needs to make things ready, change their warm heavy quilts for lighter ones, add some extra pillows, place two big bowls of ice water on each night table with clean towels besides ‘em, bucket next to the bed in case the kid decides he doesn’t want to keep down his dinner, cold water bottles to keep Jack hydrated; Dean knows, it’s going to be a long night for them. One emergency run to the pharmacy later and he also has some medicine to give to the kid.

He returns to Jack’s room to find Sam sitting against the headboard with Jack’s head on his lap, telling him it’ll be ok while he places a cold towel on the kid’s forehead. At some point Jack changed from his sweat soaked pajama’s into a pair of boxers and one of Sam’s shirts; the shirt is clearly too big for him making him look tiny, as if he could swim in the fabric. In the time it took Dean to prepare everything and go to the pharmacy, Jack’s screams have thankfully died down and turned into soft sobs.

Before Sam can say anything he’s crossing the room and picking Jack up, “C’mon Sammy. Kids sleeping with us tonight.” He pretends not to see Sam’s tears as he carries the crying nephilim to their room, pretends he doesn’t hear the whispered thank you from Sam or the soft dad from Jack.  5 hours, a bottle of children’s Tylenol and a small mountain of cold towels later Jack’s fever finally goes down enough for him to fitfully fall sleep curled up between him and Sam on their bed.

"It's so easy to forget he's a baby" Sam whispered, fingers slowly running through Jack’s hair; it is. It is easy to forget he's technically a baby, he has nightmares, and he's afraid of thunderstorms and it turns out his human side can get the better of him and makes him painfully sick.

It’s so easy to forget Dean hadn’t realized what was happening up until this moment; it’s a hell of a revelation to have at four in the morning, that at some point after letting Sam convince him to give the young nephilim a chance, he had taken the role of a dad. That while he’s a Nephilim, Jack’s like every other little kid running into their parent’s arms when somethings wrong, seeking protection and comfort.

Dean didn’t sign up for this, he didn’t ask nor want to be a nephilims dad, but at some point he became one and Dean Winchester is not the type of man who runs out on his responsibilities. Besides, Dean would be lying if he said the realization that he and Sam have a son didn't make him smile. Hunters, they don’t get to settle down and have kids, Dean knows that yet here he is, feeling exhausted not from a hunt but because of staying up all night to care for his sick kid, with his soulmate across from him.  

Tomorrow he and Sam will try to find more information on nephilim’s getting sick and how to care for them, and Dean will go buy a bigger bed, one that can comfortably fit two 6ft tall men and their one-year old in the body of a 19yr old nephilim son on those stormy, fever induced nightmare filled nights.

But tonight, looking at the love of his life curled up around their sleeping son as if trying to protect him from the world, Dean whispers a promise,

"Look kid, I'm not perfect. I'm going to make mistakes, some that will hurt you and I'll apologize for those now. But I'm going to try my hardest to be there, to protect you and Sammy. You might not be my blood but you're my kid and I'm going to make sure you know you have two dads who love you, and I’m going to teach you everything my dad thought me and everything he didn’t think I needed to know; I’m going to be a better father than mine was, Jack.

I promise."

**Author's Note:**

> I don't actually know if nephilims can get sick but for the purpose of my story I'm saying they can; I think one of the biggest parts of parenthood is your kid climbing into your bed at all hours of the night. 
> 
> As always this work is crossposted on my tumblr: [canonicallysoulmates](http://canonicallysoulmates.tumblr.com/post/175158480938/it-was-supposed-to-be-a-onetime-thing-the-kid-had)


End file.
